LIFEPOWER-2: CREATE VALUE


CREATE VALUE is the second LifePOWER goal.


CREATE VALUE, the second goal, helps you obtain the first (Seek Joy).

Create Value means providing useful service to others. However, it does not mean sacrificing your rational self interest. On the contrary, the idea here is to develop the skills and productive effort necessary to implement the first LifePOWER goal, which is to Seek Joy.

To be productive and prosperous, it is necessary to provide useful goods and services that other people will pay for. In other words, to get what you want, you must think about how to please others. The true measure of how useful you are to someone else is how much they are willing to pay you for your effort. This principle holds as much for family and other personal relationships (where the currency is mutual benefit) as it does for commercial and business relationships (where the currency is traditional money).

People who produce more than they consume tend to be most happy, prosperous and useful to others. However, without seeking the first LifePOWER goal (Seek Joy), working toward this production is at best a half-hearted effort. The pursuit of joy gives you the motivation to do your best (because it is fun). Working toward providing useful benefits for others allows you to obtain the fraternal, monetary and societal wealth to live the kind of life you want. Depending on your unique interests and skills, one of these forms of wealth may be more important than others. Money is necessary up to a point, but doing what makes you happy is far more important than having a certain amount of money. In other words, money is only a means to another goal; not an ultimate goal in itself. People who worship money are often the unhappiest of all, since they can never get enough (don't confuse this for a criticism of money or extensive wealth).

There is no nobler goal in life than to maximize your own happiness (Seek Joy). No matter how hard you try, when you live primarily for others, you develop hidden feelings of resentment, anger and frustration. This often leads to dishonest actions and habits designed to hide your true feelings. At its worse, this leads to depression, crime and abuse. From the guilt this false ethic brings, it becomes very easy for others to manipulate you. The societal guilt of not giving others what they want (without appropriate compensation to you) is one of the most devastating of all psychological limitations.

When you are happy, you are more likely to be a good friend, family member or associate. Creating value for others, rather than depending on them for charity, welfare or sacrifice, provides several benefits: 1) self-satisfaction, 2) strong and lasting relationships, 3) opportunities for an upward spiral of achievement and 4) becoming a positive contributor to society.

Create Value because you want to Seek Joy, not because you owe something to society. Although societal benefits are secondary, they tend to be maximized when you pursue your dreams.

Once your goal is set to Seek Joy, and the practical means of Creating Value are understood, you can contemplate the third goal of the LifePOWER philosophy, which is to Live Free.


LIFEPOWER main page SEEK Joy page LIVE Free page

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